On Monday, I set out to make a batch of “Church Windows,” marshmallows held together by chocolate-peanut butter ganache. For years I’d seen pictures of these colorful confections but I never got around to making a batch.
As I stirred the ganache, inspiration struck. The sauce would be perfect (perfect!) spooned into jars and given as gifts to friends. The combination of chocolate, peanut butter and butter makes a tasty chocolate-peanut “hot fudge” sauce. Imagine a melted down peanut butter cup poured over ice cream or stirred into milk for a peanut butter hot chocolate. That’s how good this sauce tastes.
The inspiration for these easy gifts never would have stuck if I hadn’t made those simple marshmallow “church windows.” Sure, I know how to make ganache but I never thought of making a peanut butter ganache.
Don’t you love it when this type of culinary inspiration strikes? When you are busy making one thing and you think, “You know…I could…”
I often forget that for me action creates inspiration. Too often, I get distracted by life. Tending to other things and not moving creatively. Does that happen to you? If I’m honest, I’m rarely– if ever–inspired by sitting on the couch, checking e-mail, or chatting on Facebook. But when I get moving, the ideas come.
Sometimes the inspiration is simple, like spooning peanut butter ganache into jars for holiday gifts and sometimes it’s complex, like the nugget of an idea for a cookbook. But if I don’t get myself moving, I deny myself all of those creative “what if” moments.
As we move into the darkest days of winter, I’m really curious: how do you find inspiration? Or, should I say, how does inspiration find you?
3 Ingredient Chocolate Peanut Butter Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (6 ounces; 170 grams)
- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (4 3/4 ounces; 134 grams)
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter (4 tablespoons; 2 ounces)
- salt, to taste
Instructions
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In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Turn on heat to low. This is important. You need to treat this sauce gently or it might scorch. Stir with a wooden spoon or heat resistant spatula until ingredients are melted and smooth. Sauce should be shiny. Add salt to taste.
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Pour sauce into a small jam jar. Allow to cool. Sauce will harden.
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To serve warm: remove desired amount of sauce from jar. Place in a small bowl. Warm in microwave on low setting for 30 seconds. Stir. Return to microwave if sauce isn't warm.
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Store sauce in the refrigerator for up to one month.
Krumkake says
Five stars for how easy it is and that it actually hardens on the ice cream, just like hot fudge sauce you would get in an ice cream shoppe. How good it tastes will definitely be related to the quality of the ingredients you use. E.g., I used regular peanut butter (sweetened), but will use my favorite natural (unsweetened) next time so the peanut butter flavor will really “pop.” I also reserved some chocolate chips and threw them in just before pouring the sauce on the ice cream so there would be some bursts of chocolate flavor from some unmelted chunks. Everyone liked this.
reedbook36 says
Brilliant. Peanut butter ganache as an ice cream topping. Exactly the taste I was looking for. I used an extra generous amount of crunchy peanut butter and heated it all in the micro. Easy peasy, and oh so good!